Guest Book

During its 28 years of operation, the United States’ most powerful atom smasher has informed some of the most important fundamental discoveries of our time and has yielded achievements in detector, accelerator and computing technology. Fermilab’s Tevatron has also played a key role in the lives of many current and former Fermilab staff members and scientists and science enthusiasts around the world.

Tevatron-related memories, comments and stories:

I came to Fermilab to work on the experiments then being built to take advantage of the just-commissioned Tevatron. It was a wonderful time - nothing but new energies, new beams, new experiments, new detectors, new computing and new physics. Since then I've worked on muon deep inelastic scattering, CDF, computing, accelerator instrumentation, and other things. The Tevatron is off but not forgotten and I look forward to the future that is enabled by what was learned from the the Tevatron.

Steve Wolbers, Fermilab

During my 37 year career at Fermilab I transferred (and moved) all over the Lab. One of my moves was to D0 to work for Paul Grannis as the collaboration was forming. Trying to organize a bunch of physicists from all over the world was a challenge for sure, but a challenge of the best kind. From the long days setting up the very basics of life (a work space and coffee pot) to preparing for the first DOE review, the excitement of a great project replaced the need for sleep. I thank you for the great memories.

Marilyn Paul, Fermilab (retired)

Hans Fraunfelder was so excited when he gave my graduate Nuclear Physics class the assignment to start calculating the ring. How much material in the shielding? Where would you get it? How would you get it there? He was full of stimulating questions, and enthusiasm for this upcoming project. He also made serious threats to keep track of powers of 10. It would not do to send Senator Dirksen an estimate that was off by a billion dollars or two!

Wendy Torrance Potter Padgett, Retired

Tevatron has been a great teacher for us all. We shall continue our work and achieve ever higher understanding: It is quite possible to work without results, but not otherwise. Tevatron has been consistently delivering results for our work, thank you!

Luciano Elementi, Fermilab

It was great to be a part of the D-Zero build, and walk amongst the giants who had made the Tevatron happen. Those were good years.

Keith Primdahl, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

I will always remember my phD studies at Dzero. Mostly the on call part and the running inside the detector over night hours! I have learnt so much about the data at a start up of a detector (Run II) and I got so amazing moment with the Dzero collaboration!
Thanks so much to have given me such great opportunities to work on proton-antiproton collisions!

Stephanie Beauceron, IPNL/CNRS

I will never forget the DZero community and shared effort in operating such a great detector and generating many amazing results. While I don't miss the countless late night/early morning pages, I miss all of my colleagues and friends. I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to work with many of you again. I look forward to the next chapter of Fermilab...

Norm Buchanan, Colorado State University

I'm still thankful for my time as a graduate student on the DZero experiment. It was an amazing experience to be part of the collaboration, and to be at Fermilab. Although I pursued a career outside of physics after finishing my degree, my time collaborating on DZero has been priceless in business.

Tracy Thomas, Northwestern University

Thank you Tevatron, I was hoping you would be supplanted somewhat sooner but you have been there for us! I thought I was joining an experiment (CDF) but it turned out to be a career.

Larry Nodulman, Argonne

Many memories of great D0 physics and wonderful colleagues - the end of an era. Looking on the bright side, we are finely giving those poor luminosity monitors a rest after having mercilessly abused them these past 19+ years.

Richard Partridge, SLAC (and for many years Brown University)

May I begin by saying how fortunate and privileged I feel to have been a member of the community of physicists, engineers, and technicians that has created and operated the Tevatron over the past three decades.

There likely exists a moment of sadness associated with the termination of the Tevatron, but this sentiment is clearly overwhelmed by the recognition of the significant advancements that this Facility has provided to the science fields of Particle Physics and Particle Accelerators.

May we all celebrate this occasion with an enhanced feeling of pride and satisfaction of a highly successful undertaking - the Tevatron Collider.

Frank Turkot, Fermilab

I especially admired the Cockroft-Walton high voltage accelerator that was the starting point for the Tevatron. It had those cool rounded shapes that probably helped to inspire the Art Deco era. Let's hope that another generation is inspired by this lab's work -- that FNAL doesn't mean Final!

Paul Arveson, DOE

Really like your blog, because are very interesting articles here, thank you for that .I will return later for other items.

Vince Nicholas, Jocuri cu Masini

A very sad day for science and a sad day for America.

Sophie Grillet

I landed for the first time in Fermilab in the summer of 1992 as a grad student from India to work on DZero experiment and at one of the very first shutdowns got a chance to work inside the Detector, that was really mind boggling that such a complicated machine could work in sync with so many components but the next thought as soon as I saw the Tevatron beam pipe had the real truth that the detector heartbeat tic is infact the magic of the GREAT donut machine! Congratulations to all who made that happen!

Vipin Bhatnagar, Panjab University, India

I grew up in Wheaton, my family is spread out among the towns surrounding Batavia. When I was younger, my parents would take me to see the buffalo, though no one could really tell me what they did at Fermi. As I got older and started getting more and more into physics, I came to realize that (for the time being at least) I had the worlds most powerful particle accelerator literally in my backyard. I'm currently finishing up my needed math and physics courses for getting into the physics department at my state university. With the classes becoming increasingly difficult I've gone as far as to having the Tevatron tattooed onto my arm as a reminder of why I put myself through these classes. The Tevatron has done far more than to create mass out of energy, it has created inspiration for people like myself to attempt to do things I never thought I could do. (Like upper level calculus.) Thank you to everyone that has helped to make my backyard a center for particle physics
and for inspiring me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of.

Athanaisos Frentzos

I was a grad student on a small collider experiment, E-735, during the first run in 87. I have three odd memories of the Tevatron.

I remember I roder my bike rightdown into the tunnel one afternoon. I had to measure something on our detector during the construction and rode my bike over from the Village. I noticed the equipment access ramp door was open at C0 and without thinking, rode my bike right down the ramp to our detector in the tunnel, took my measurement and rode back up.

We grad students always hoped for thunder storms when you were on shift. During a thunder storm, there was always lightning strike which dropped the bunches in the accelerator. In those days it took around a week to get another p-bar store and that meant you were off shift for a week!!

My part of the detector involved some copper plants for photon conversion. At the end of the experiment, I "inherited" those plates. I had them cut up, engraved with the date and gave them away. I remember I gave one to my advisor, Al Goshow and one to Frank Turkot.

Tom Carter, College of DuPage

This has been an emotional week for so many of us. For me there was something oddly unsettling about the end of the Tevatron as well. Something I couldn’t put my finger on until a couple of days ago - I have spent my ENTIRE adult life with this machine. I first came here 24 years ago as an 18 year old summer student on E711 right after graduating from high school. Then as an undergrad on E769, a grad student on KTeV, and a Lederman Fellow and professor on D0. I wasn’t here for all 28 years, so there are many people who have been with the Tevatron for longer. But I have been with it for a greater fraction of my life than anyone I know of. Other than Christ my savior, and Susanne my wife, the Tevatron has been a daily part of my life for longer than anyone or anything else. Many thanks to everyone who had a hand in building, running, and utilizing this remarkable machine. I have been truly blessed through all of your efforts.

Breese Quinn, University of Mississippi

My experience with the Tevatron began in 1985, when I worked with then-Congressman Harris Fawell (R-13th), Dr. Leon Lederman and others to try to bring the budding Superconducting Super-Collider project to Illinois! We did not succeed, but this amazing instrument continued to reign in the world of high-energy particle physics since that time. Please be proud and do not worry, the new experiments and apparatus planned will continue to amaze for many years!!

Charles R. Stack, M.P.H., University of Illinois at Chicago

20 years ago I decided to study physics. I was deeply inspired by Leon Lederman speaking about the science and technology behind the Tevatron. Years later I wrote an e-mail to him saying thanks and asking for advice one of the most important moments in my life. Thanks for everything!

Esteban Gutierrez, Mexico City then now Palo Alto, CA

I grew up with the Tevatron. The first time I heard about Fermilab was from my freshman high school science teacher. A couple years later, in 1985, I was able to tour the lab and CDF. Life was never the same after that. From then on, I knew that I wanted to work on accelerators and build electronics for them. I spent three happy summers at the lab as a student and then worked on KteV and CDF. Now I work on accelerators at another lab, but will always remember Fermilab and the Tevatron. Farewell, old friend, you inspired and motivated me and it was because of you that I chose such an exciting and rewarding career. A little piece of my heart will always be with you.

John Dusatko, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

I remember the Tevatron always making a splash in my reading material. Discovering the top quark and then accurately finding its mass before it disappeared. Then finding all those b hadrons, I think they found every possible half spin and all but one possible three-halves spins, and I bet just because its possible doesn't mean it occurs.

P. R. Sturm, Retired

I joined D0 only 1.5years ago and i loved the spirit of the detector team at D0 right away. I missed the Tevatron shutdown only by minutes because my plane was late. So, i want to thank D0 & the Tevatron for the possibilities i had to learn about it and see it running. I will miss all the fun!

Andreas Jung, Fermilab

Feeling very nostalgic today. Many many great times as a grad student on Dzero. A great place to be a student and learn from so many people. I hope the next generation at Cern, etc continue to make exciting discoveries. I was lucky to be a part of the top quark discovery and it won't be forgotten.

Tom Fahland, Former Dzero grad student/Brown Univerisity

I first visited Fermilab with my middle school class in the early 1970s. I still remember looking in amazement at mini meteors (cosmic rays) streaking through the cloud chamber just inside the entrance. Many years later, I have been reading about particle physics and have visited Fermilab a few times for their "Ask a Scientist" program. I really enjoyed the tours and discussing some physics with the physicists. Now, I live in California and miss visiting Fermilab, but hope to come back again. I miss you already, Tevatron!

Jim Tuttle, Santa Ana, CA

My memory of the Tevatron is shooting the "Particle Business" music video http://youtu.be/oaG6umMkbxg. Three of the coolest locations we shot at were the Main Control Room of the Tevatron, the CDF collision hall and the Antiproton Source. I am forever humbled by and excited for the work that goes on by the people at Fermilab.

Steven Rush

Tevatron had a fantastic life with many discoveries, physics papers and most importantly in training of many young minds like me. I started my life at Fermilab in a Tevatron Fixed target program, moved on to D0 and Accelerator Division.

Today Tevatron delivers 10+ inverse picobarns of luminosity everyday. I remember the week, when as a Run 1b Run Coordinator, we in the Main Control Room used to work hard to deliver 1 inverse picobarn in a week. Tevatron challenged both CDF/D0 experimenters to collect data at a surpassed rate then and it is doing that even today as we say good bye to a technological marvel.

In Dr. Wilson's words this is what makes our country worth defending.

Shekhar Mishra, Fermilab

Thank you Tevatron and her crew for the splendid physics you have presented for all these years. It will always be a pleasure to follow your work. As a European I am pleased to see the intense collaboration between the FermiLab-people and CERN. Looking forward to new physics.

Raymond Meijer, Retired from University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Thanks Tevatron! You helped inspire me to learn physics!

Lauren, Stanford

It was my great pleasure to work at D0, CDF and CD during my time at Fermilab. The people I met there are among the best and brightest I have ever had the privilege to work with and I will remember forever the unity with which people from all around the world pushed toward the same goals.

Rich Wellner, Object Environments

I joined CDF about 8 years ago as a PhD student at University of Tsukuba. After my graduation there, I joined D0 as a Fermilab RA.

I wouldn't trade these years at both CDF and D0 for anything. Arigato CDF D0 and Tevatron.

Masato Aoki, Nagoya University/Fermilab/University of Tsukuba

Thanks everyone responsible for Tevatron operation during these almost 30 years unveiling Nature secrets.. few words to concatenate physics progress until today: LHC stands "on a Giant shoulder".. that's it!!

Patricia Rebello Teles, UFABC

Tevatron has huge global influence, more than anyone can imagine. In 1995, I watched on CCTV (Chinese Central Televison) channel about the discovery of top quark ~8000 miles away from Fermilab in a small town in China. Today, I am here watching the shutdown of Tevatron. The news are reaching people around the world in faster-than-light speed, before I know it, people are IMing me from China: I heard the time machine you are working on is going to be shutdown...

Liang Li, UC Riverside

I'm glad to be part of History. I can tell my grandkids that I was part of it.

Ben Galan, Fermilab Contractor Tech.

I joined D0 earlier this year, just as the LHC experiments were starting to publish their first 7TeV results om Supersymmetry and Higgs physics. People would often come and ask why had I chosen to go to D0 instead of going to an LHC experiment instead.

By now I have a clear answer for that.

The Tevatron and its detectores are one of the experiments that most contributed for our understand of physics during the last twenty years. The training, learning and expertise you can get from the people who built, operated and used this machine is ineffable.

It is definitely one of the biggest well succeeded enterprises for Science.
So, thank you, Tevatron.

Rafael de Lima, CBPF

I have always had a great time at Fermilab, and it was a pleasure to work on anything related to the Tev as well as other projects around the site. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those in EE Support that have always worked extremely hard to keep our experiments running throughout all those years.

Adam Schreckenberger, University of Minnesota

Thanks! I went from graduate student to tenure on data from the Tevatron. I will never forget the experiments, the people, and the place.

Gordon Watts, University of Washington

I sit here, feeling as though I am at a wake of an old friend. I recall all the talented people I had the pleasure to work with. The challenging projects that I have been a part of and all the milestones that have come over the years from this place we call Fermi Lab. And then my thoughts turn to the tons of data that has been acquired through the years and what of that. What new process? What new technology? What new cures will be derived a 100 years from now, from that which we discovered here in the last 40 years? The Tev maybe shutting down but its legacy continues. Congratulations to all of us.

Ken Schultz, Fermilab

The Tevatron was turned on soon after I was born, discovered the top while I was a young teenager at school in the UK, performed multiple interesting measurements during my undergraduate and PhD studies. Now she shuts down as I sit in the ATLAS control room at CERN. Truly an experiment which inspired my generation, you will be missed!

Dr Mark Tibbetts, LBNL

Dear Tevatron,

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for having a hand in that magnet failure. You know which one. Come on, you're not still holding a grudge are you? What's a little quench between friends??

Of course, you got me back that day of the scheduled power outage. I climbed down and up each of 24 stairwells in the pitch black dark to check that the unpowered sump pits weren't overflowing, before you giggled back to life hours ahead of schedule as I was ascending the last stair! Oh, I know you were watching. But we're good now, right? No hard feelings? Thanks for not embarrassing me in front of Bill Nye the Science Guy when we escorted him and his film crew through A0!

Godspeed good buddy, and thanks for the memories.

XOXO,
Maggie

Maggie Stauffer, Formerly AD Operations

It's common to attach sentimentality to objects like a home, a car or even a TV show. We reminisce, the song by Green Day plays and we all get a little sad about something that without the capacity to reciprocate. Yes, the Tevatron is a machine and we are definitely assigning such sentimentality to it.

The successes and failures of the Tevatron affected us. We felt negatively when it failed and joy when it worked. Though not viscerally reciprocated, there WAS something we did give to the Tev. Often it took our effort, blood (literally) and sweat to make it work.

We worked and the Tev ran. It ran through floods, droopy cherry trees, bad budgets and worse politicians. The sentimentality is based on the effect this object had on us. That effect is based on the effort we pu into it. We are not anthropomorphizing a scientific tool, we are reflecting on the coalesced effort of many people applied over many years.

So play that song Green Day song, brag about that really cool thing you fixed or that thing you broke in a spectacular way. The Tev was a machine but WE are only human.

Oliver Keimschies, Fermilab

After working in the Tevatron for 2 years during the shut downs, I learned to greatly appreciate the work that the Tev Tech's do on a daily basics.

To get to work on at the time the worlds largest made made machine was rewarding to me, because I learned a lot in those few months about my fellow colleagues and whom I got to work with and a first hand look at the Tevatron itself.

Curtis R. Danner, Fermilab

Thanks Tevatron, CDF, DZero, Fermilab and those who made it all possible. You've not only brought physics beyond what was expected but also inspired thousands of persons to study this wonderful science and keep us stuck to the news waiting for your articles... even overseas, here in Spain.

I wish you the best and good luck in the future at the intensity frontier and wait for the results of the analysis of all the data provided by the Tevatron.

My best regards from Spain.

Jorge Bueno

Shortly after I arrived at Physical Review Letters, a senior editor left me in charge of his caseload for a week. It was February 1995. In one of our first email submissions, a pair of papers on Observation of the Top Quark arrived just minutes apart. This was just before e-referrals, so I used Fed Ex, and we received three reports within a week. Needless to say, they were very positive.

It has been my great good fortune to handle many CDF & D0 papers since then.

Robert Garisto, Physical Review Letters

I worked at Fermilab for a life-changing period of almost 4 years after graduating in 1994. The cooperative and constructive work environment has been dearly missed ever since: strive to keep it alive! It may become harder without the obvious common goal of running the Tevatron.

Francesco Prelz, INFN - Milan, Italy

Reading the headlines in the newspaper its easy to get discouraged by all the challenges facing the world. Yet looking out at the Tevatron from the 15th floor, or at CDF or DO - these massively complex devices that have to work just so - I can't help but feel optimistic that there is enough drive, smarts, and good will in the world to meet any challenge.

Mark Messier, Indiana University

I have many fond memories of the Tevetron most of all working on the CDF project. Working with the best physicists, engineers, technical, and support staff was a very satisfying and rewarding experience. Collaborating with people from all over the globe was one of my greatest pleasures. Meeting deadlines for the start of a run my greatest stress. Building the CTC, SVX, SVX Prime, SVX II, and ISL were my greatest feats. Designing, constructing and commissioning L00 my greatest challenge. Cancellation of SVX IIB was my greatest disappointment. Having my daughter work at Fermilab and being part of the team that upgraded my CTC with the COT is my greatest joy. I retired after a thirty two year career at Fermilab; now CDF will be retired. It's a shame that I can't take CDF fishing with me.

Michael Hrycyk, Fermilab (Retired)

I salute the vision of Robert Wilson, Leon Lederman, and so many others, and all the planning that made the Tevatron possible.

Paul Halpern, Unversity of the Sciences

Thank you Tevatron for two and a half decades of proton-accelerating awesomeness. You have aided our understanding of the glorious and mysterious Universe we live in, and which lives within us. Here's to new discoveries at Fermilab, thanks to you and your team!

Jason Major, LightsInTheDark.com

My father moved to Batavia, a simple electrician, to help build Fermilab in the 70's, he remains there today. I was born in 1985. My sister worked as an architect in the early 2000's at Fermilab. Even though my life might not be directly involved with the Tevatron, the first 18 years of my life were oddly connected with Fermilab's livelihood. I grew up with bike rides to see the buffalo, canoe trips on the lakes, looking up in awe in the atrium at Wilson Hall. As a Spanish teacher today, I have no immediate connection to Fermilab, but my youth is peppered with memories of how important a place this is. The Tevatron may be retiring, but the experiments and brilliant minds that keep Fermilab relevant and a premiere laboratory of the world remain. I was always inspired, by the people, the science, the art, the nature; the overall environment. I hope it continues to inspire generations after myself to achieve... because of the example you set, I couldn't just follow the mold, but had to strive to do something better.

Joseph Mitacek, Chicago Public Schools

I left Hawaii for the Tevatron. It was worth it. Mahalo nui loha and Aloooooohaaaaaa!

Brendan Casey, Fermilab

Running with the antiprotons around the Tev's bike path will forever be one of my most humbling experiences. There, in the midst prairie land, was fermi-scopic Big Bangs. To me, the Tevatron will always be known as the Standard Model Factory.

Richard Ruiz, Univ. Wisc. - Madison; FNAL

Like many of my colleagues, I have moved on to the LHC, but the Tevatron was where it all started. I still remember the first time I drove to Fermilab, I got a bit lost, but the stunning highrise in the middle of prairies was hard to miss. Unfortunately I was never based there, but I kept going there during my grad student days, and it was a privilege to work with and learn from such a great group of people, and the experience I gained by looking at real data has proved very helpful subsequently. I have many a fun memories from the CDF control room - when there were armed bandits onsite (and we documented that in elog!), or the mini birthday parties arranged by Dee.
In many ways, LHC feels like a continuation of the Tevatron, and that is probably how the legacy of big experiments are carried forward.

Deepak Kar, Florida/Dresden

During the shutdown in the summer of 2010, I got a chance to take tours of various innards of the Tevatron, including the antiproton source and the D0 detector. It was one of my most exciting and enriching scientific experiences. During that summer, I spent most of my time writing computer programs to analyze data, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to see exactly where and how that data was being gathered. And sometimes I just felt a child-like joy when I looked around and realized how much it all looked like Star Wars.

I have stood at top floor of Wilson Hall countless times and looked out over the ring, marveling at the amazing science sitting just beneath the prairie. I know that even though the Tevatron will be shutting down, its scientific legacy will live on forever.

Ike Swetlitz, Yale University

It's wonderful to read about the reflections from the participants. I grew up fascinated by particle physics. There are scant opportunities out there for doing such advanced research. Fermilab may have been overtaken by the LHC in some ways, but the Tevatron still was the leader in many experiments. It's sad that such a superlative research set up needs to be closed for financial reasons.

I have spent my life defining signatures that the Tevatron could either observe or exclude. The Tevatron has been with me throughout my career and it has yielded numerous exciting times, up to the last minute with all of the present anomalies. When visiting Fermilab, my favorite thing is to walk the ring (in the proton direction, of course) and marvel at the particles that were being created under my feet. I wish the best for Fermilab and its future. We are all in this together.

JoAnne Hewett, SLAC/Stanford

I joined DØ five years ago as a Ph. D. student leaving behind my family and country in order to pursue one of my dreams... and it was all the way worth it.

Tevatron not only provided the haystack in which I found the needle that allowed me to graduate but also gave me a family and made me feel home.

Here is to 28 years, 4e32, 12 fb-1, and the enormous amounts of joy and memories...

Jesus Orduna, Rice University

I have greatly enjoyed the privilege of having Tevatron as a facebook "friend." He/she has shared good runs and bad, and when asked, has kindly distinguished one from the other to this lay reader. Tevatron will indeed be missed; it has enriched many lives.

Ellen Huxtable, Batavia Resident

The Tevatron was a huge step in the right direction: The search for truth in experimental Science.
I hope it will leave successors in their own country and arround the World for the glory of Science and the pursuit of Truth.

Luis E. Pérez B,

I joined CDF soon after my undergraduate studies. As soon as I landed at FNAL and entered the CDF trailers I knew that it was 'the place to be'. The spirit, the competence, the ambition and the dedication of all CDF-ers made the following almost ten years a fruitful, enjoyable and unforgettable time. The high profile of the research program and the truly collegial nature of CDF shaped young researchers and offered them an excellent learning environment. Overall Fermilab will always be a laboratory that went beyond the research opportunities it offered. Thanks to everyone who made it special!

Anadi Canepa, TRIUMF

During the shutdown in the summer of 2010, I got a chance to take tours of various innards of the Tevatron, including the antiproton source and the D0 detector. It was one of my most exciting and enriching scientific experiences. During that summer, I spent most of my time writing computer programs to analyze data, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to see exactly where and how that data was being gathered. And sometimes I just felt a child-like joy when I looked around and realized how much it all looked like Star Wars.

I have stood at top floor of Wilson Hall countless times and looked out over the ring, marveling at the amazing science sitting just beneath the prairie. I know that even though the Tevatron will be shutting down, its scientific legacy will live on forever.

Ike Swetlitz, Yale University

Like many of my colleagues, I have moved on to the LHC, but the Tevatron was where it all started. I still remember the first time I drove to Fermilab, I got a bit lost, but the stunning highrise in the middle of prairies was hard to miss. Unfortunately I was never based there, but I kept going there during my grad student days, and it was a privilege to work with and learn from such a great group of people, and the experience I gained by looking at real data has proved very helpful subsequently. I have many a fun memories from the CDF control room - when there were armed bandits onsite (and we documented that in elog!), or the mini birthday parties arranged by Dee.

In many ways, LHC feels like a continuation of the Tevatron, and that is probably how the legacy of big experiments are carried forward.

Deepak Kar, Florida/Dresden

Running with the antiprotons around the Tev's bike path will forever be one of my most humbling experiences. There, in the midst prairie land, was fermi-scopic Big Bangs. To me, the Tevatron will always be known as the Standard Model Factory.

Richard Ruiz, Univ. Wisc. - Madison; FNAL

I left Hawaii for the Tevatron. It was worth it. Mahalo nui loha and Aloooooohaaaaaa!

Brendan Casey, Fermilab

My father moved to Batavia, a simple electrician, to help build Fermilab in the 70's, he remains there today. I was born in 1985. My sister worked as an architect in the early 2000's at Fermilab. Even though my life might not be directly involved with the Tevatron, the first 18 years of my life were oddly connected with Fermilab's livelihood. I grew up with bike rides to see the buffalo, canoe trips on the lakes, looking up in awe in the atrium at Wilson Hall. As a Spanish teacher today, I have no immediate connection to Fermilab, but my youth is peppered with memories of how important a place this is. The Tevatron may be retiring, but the experiments and brilliant minds that keep Fermilab relevant and a premiere laboratory of the world remain. I was always inspired, by the people, the science, the art, the nature; the overall environment. I hope it continues to inspire generations after myself to achieve... because of the example you set, I couldn't just fo llow the mold, but had to strive to do something better.
The neighbor you inspired,
-Joe

Joseph Mitacek, Chicago Public Schools

Thank you Tevatron for two and a half decades of proton-accelerating awesomeness. You have aided our understanding of the glorious and mysterious Universe we live in, and which lives within us. Here's to new discoveries at Fermilab, thanks to you and your team!

Jason Major, LightsInTheDark.com

I salute the vision of Robert Wilson, Leon Lederman, and so many others, and all the planning that made the Tevatron possible.

Paul Halpern, Unversity of the Sciences

I have many fond memories of the Tevetron most of all working on the CDF project. Working with the best physicists, engineers, technical, and support staff was a very satisfying and rewarding experience. Collaborating with people from all over the globe was one of my greatest pleasures. Meeting deadlines for the start of a run my greatest stress. Building the CTC, SVX, SVX Prime, SVX II, and ISL were my greatest feats. Designing, constructing and commissioning L00 my greatest challenge. Cancellation of SVX IIB was my greatest disappointment. Having my daughter work at Fermilab and being part of the team that upgraded my CTC with the COT is my greatest joy. I retired after a thirty two year career at Fermilab; now CDF will be retired. It's a shame that I can't take CDF fishing with me.

Michael Hrycyk, Fermilab (Retired)

I have greatly enjoyed the privilege of having Tevatron as a facebook "friend." He/she has shared good runs and bad, and when asked, has kindly distinguished one from the other to this lay reader. Tevatron will indeed be missed; it has enriched many lives.

Ellen Huxtable, Batavia resident

The Tevatron was a huge step in the right direction: The search for truth in experimental science.
I hope it will leave successors in their own country and around the world for the glory of science and the pursuit of truth.

Luis E. Pérez B

I joined CDF soon after my undergraduate studies. As soon as I landed at FNAL and entered the CDF trailers I knew that it was 'the place to be'. The spirit, the competence, the ambition and the dedication of all CDF-ers made the following almost ten years a fruitful, enjoyable and unforgettable time. The high profile of the research program and the truly collegial nature of CDF shaped young researchers and offered them an excellent learning environment. Overall Fermilab will always be a laboratory that went beyond the research opportunities it offered. Thanks to everyone who made it special!

Anadi Canepa, TRIUMF

When I was a child, the potency of the name instilled images of a sci-fi giant robot or a powerful superhero into me. Later, I came to appreciate the real size and superpowers of the Tevatron. I'm not a scientist, I have no physics degree, nor have I visited Fermilab (not even the States) but, as someone who takes delight in looking at the world through the lens of science, I just wanted to pay tribute to this superb engine which has excited and mystified our imaginations for so many years.

Aurelio Bernabeu

I went to Fermilab for the first time in summer 1999 for my PhD experiment, E835. I stayed there for about 15 months or so to prepare the experiment and to take data. I enjoyed very much roller-blading or running around Tevatron after work.

I miss that time. Wonderful people and place...

Good bye Tevatron and thanks much for your hard work!

Seon-Hee Seo, Stockholm University

I remember during the construction of the "energy saver" things were not going well. There were many conflicting ideas on how to complete the project and an incomplete consensus on how to proceed.

Leon Lettermen (Laboratory Director) call a meeting of all employees in the atrium of Wilson Hall. He summarized the problems, difficulties, and consequences of failure. In the end he said (sic) "I don't know what need to be done but I know that you do. Please put your differences aside and make this work, there is too much at stake if you don't". He also asked for everyone to volunteer their efforts to make success happen. this was the most inspiring speech I ever heard! I was told that the "volunteers" virtually included everyone and the "saver" project was saved.

Leon taught me the most important lesson in management and leadership I ever learned. I have used what he taught me throughout my career.

Thanks Leon!

Greg Chartrand, Pacific Northwest National Lab

I remember the beginnings of D-Zero: an impossible management assignment and a magician spokesperson, terrible technical problems and heroic technical solutions, impossible physics challenges and amazing discoveries, and the people. I remember the people - those who were young with us, senior to us, and those who are not with us any longer. Sure it's a machine... but it's really people, deep down.

I also remember a time at the beginning of Run II when things were dark and some were prepared to bet against the accelerator division. Dan and I tried to argue that they would surprise everyone and they did. The whole lab came together and Run II was spectacular. The tevatron has been — IS — a remarkable device.

A senior lab scientist once told me that when he drove to work in the morning and saw the high rise, that his heart beat a little faster. Fermilab the place and Fermilab the community does that.

Sure, I'm sad and also proud to see the completion of the tevatron period. But: I'm confident that the future of this jewel of U.S. laboratories has much magic, heroism, and surprises — many surprises — in its future!

Chip Brock, Michigan State University

I have hundreds of memories but I'll never forget the commissioning of the original accelerator. The linac and booster were working fine but no beam was detectable in the main ring. Part of the problem was the beam detection torriod current detection that was over a magnitude less sensitive than necessary to tune the initial beam.

I assisted M. Atac who assembled a portable beam detection assembly mounted on his son's little red wagon. He and I walked the main ring backwards looking for the beam with Atac's portable beamfinder. When we finally made to the injection point and found nothing, Atac reported the results. The accelerator was shutdown and the transfer line opened; they found a rag in the transfer line that someone left in the tube. Once the rag was removed and vacuum restored, the main ring came alive!

Greg Chartrand, Pacific Northwest National Lab

Never been there. Never heard of it. But, now, the web spreads it's history before almost everyone. Your memories will make an enduring monument to the work begun and finished here. Keep them coming and tell the world that what was done here was of magnitude and motivation greater than most.Inform those who will carry on in the future that the shoulders they stand upon are broad and committed. So that they may in turn launch their followers onto the paths of discovery and enlightment.

Ron Crockett, American

Thank you for the many years of experimentation and discovery. I will miss the science and the updates!

Dan Haney

I'm just an armchair enthusiast who has been getting Symmetry since before it was Symmetry. Lot's of wonderful and I mean wonder full articles, news, and stories have come from Fermi. I am sad to see any program come to an end. I look forward to your new adventures, and thank you so much for taking us with you as you explored the "tinyverse" of particle physics with the Tevatron. I wish everyone in the Tevatron program, and all of Fermi Lab the very best. What's next?

Bernie Shwayder

I was just the usual High School student with no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated. Until all that changed when my Physics teacher enrolled me in the Fermilab Saturday Morning Physics program. The lectures and tours enamored me with Fermilab, the Tevatron and pure research, inspiring me to complete a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Physics. Once armed with my degree, I applied to the AD/Operations department, started my dream job here at Fermilab and was given the opportunity to control the Tevatron on a daily basis.

And then just a few days ago I sat in the Tevatron chair as melancholy swept over me, for this would be the very last time in control of this tremendous machine.

Michael Wren, Accelerator Division/Operations

I have many great TeVatron-related memories from my time as an undergrad and grad student working with the CDF Collaboration. One of my favorite happened early in my time at the lab. I saw a group of runners heading out from the CDF trailers around lunchtime and recognized a friend in the group. He knew I was a runner and so he yelled, "Why don't you join us one of these days?" so I asked, "How far do you run?" and the answer sailed back, "2pi kilometers!"

Thanks, TeVatron, both for the data and for the opportunity for me to meet and work with so many wonderful people.

Sarah Demers, Yale University

A CDF guy took me to see the CDF detector when it was taken out from the collision in 1996. I forgot the reason why it was taken out. That's my only time to see a real detector. It is enormously large, at least to me. It created a lot of scientific works and even stimulated more works from theorists than itself. It is amazing. Yet, the science keeps going.

Kingman Cheung, National Tsing Hua University

I remember going to visit Fermi Lab and just being amazed by the science. The wonders of what's really out there and the secrets of who we are. It's mind-blowing to live so close to one of the most influential places of our time.

Muhammad Yousuf

In 1995, I was 9 years old, growing up in Dallas, TX. The Dallas Morning News used to run a "Discoveries" section every Monday, which I read religiously. One morning, Discoveries featured a front page spread on the Standard Model and the discovery of the top quark by CDF and D0 at the Tevatron. I thought that this was the coolest thing I had ever heard of, and decided that day that, when I grew up, I wanted to be a "subatomic particle physicist".

In December, I will defend my thesis on a Higgs search at CDF. The Tevatron's discoveries not only have laid the groundwork for future discoveries, they have also inspired the next generation of physicists who will make those discoveries.

Jon Wilson, The Ohio State University

I was a new hire in 1990 and my first project with the D0 Clock system. I am very proud to have been a part of the Clock system and how smooth it has ran all these years. I now have a complete understanding of how the Maytag repairman feels. Congrats Fermilab...job well done!

Albert Dyer, Fermilab

I've went in Fermilab for the first time during my PhD (CDF) in summer 1998. Last time I visited Fermilab was in winter 2005 (CDF). In that time interval I've visited regularly Fermilab (and jogged along the Tevatron ring too!) for various institutions: Trento, Padova, Pisa, Paris.

Although I'm working now on a competing experiment (ATLAS) I'm a bit sad about tomorrow's Shutdown event. I've spent really good time there.

I will miss Fermilab but I'm thankful for what I've learned there.

Antonio Sidoti, INFN Sezione di Roma

Dear Tevatron,

Thank you for supplying the collisions I used for my Ph.D. thesis and now for my post-doc research. Since I met you about seven years ago, you have been the most important machine in my life and I am sad to see you leave. Thanks for all of the data and memories, you will be missed.

Joe Haley, Princeton / Northeastern University

My memory comes from reading about the Tevatron in an illustrated book put out by the TV show Nova. Seeing the ring and magnets and glowing particle traces grabbed my mind. And it was all so close! I didn't get a chance to visit the lab for a couple decades but I was not disappointed when I did. Seeing the ring, the buildings, the people. It made me feel like I was in the center of something enormous and important. I don't even want to think about the shutdown. It just makes me extremely sad. Especially considering how cheap it would have been to keep the ring running.

Ryan

I participated in a high-school program to attend Fermilab for several weeks during the summer of 1994. We were assigned to different experiments — mine was measuring muon neutrino scattering angles — and we helped with data processing, and took classes on advanced physics, mostly the standard model.

I went on and got a PhD from Stanford, and have maintained a life-long interest in science and physics.

Jonathan Dugan

In Run 1, when I took shifts as a DZero shift captain, one of the duties was to attend the 9:00 meeting with the accelerator division. I remember a sign on the wall of the conference room that said something like: “Our goal: 1 inverse picobarn per week, reliably”. In the last few years of Run II, we became accustomed to getting ten inverse picobarns a day, but in early times the goal of 1 inverse picobarns per week was ambitious. It also reminds me that, although the Tevatron produced many impressive peak records over the years, the focus was always on delivering useful luminosity to the experiments, and we at DZero were the beneficiaries.

I remember the cold cold day in March 1995 when the discovery of the top quark was officially announced at Fermilab. There had been an ice storm the night before, but the sun was shining, and trees, cars were sparking in their clear icy coats. It seemed appropriate that the lab would be showing itself in this characteristic beauty on a day when so much attention was focused on Fermilab. The somewhat treacherous road conditions did not prevent crowds from flocking to Fermilab that day.

Darien Wood, former DZero spokesperson

The work on Fermilab’s quench protection system and the people responsible for it deserve special recognition- people like Howie Pfeffer, Bob Flora, Gerry Tool, Dan Wolff, etc. Two guys (Howie and Bob) ended up playing key roles in retrofitting the LHC’s quench protection system after the 'helium release'. It was because of their experience at the Tevatron that these guys were able to offer such aid to the LHC.

Alvin Tollestrup, Fermilab scientist

In my early days at the lab, I worked with many of the fixed target experiments; E665, E687, E704, E706,

E711, E731, E740, E756, E761, E773, E800 to name a few. The Computing Department (at that time) assigned liaisons from CD to the various experiments. It was very interesting and exciting to work closely with the experimenters on their data acquisition systems. Often this meant long hours and trips out to the experimental apparatus at odd hours of the day to work on the DAQ. I really felt like I was helping the experiments in their quest to acquire data. And, I met my husband there!

Eileen Berman, CD

It has been an amazing performance by the Accelerator Division folks, starting with first Tevatron collisions in 1985 with an unmeasurably low luminosity, to the peak lumi record of over 4E32 in 2011. Compare this with the upper limit of 3E30 expected when the CDF and D0 were being designed. Along the way, we in the experiments heard a natural desire from the AD folks to deliver so much luminosity to the experiments that we would rise from our bunkers with white flag in hand. Indeed, we got the flag out in our control rooms ever so often but never quite waved it.

It has been a true class act to make a high luminosity collider using antiprotons — a feat unlikely to be replicated ever again. I could start to name some of the heroes, but the list would go on and on. So, to you all collectively and individually — congratulations on a tremendous success. You truly enabled a wonderful harvest of physics.

Paul Grannis, DZero spokesperson 1983 – 1996

The entire lab pulled together to bring the Tevatron to fruition. It was an incredible experience to be part of and will perhaps never be repeated here.

Alvin Tollestrup, Fermilab scientist

There are sections of the Tevatron electrical circuit that are non-superconducting across the straight sections at A0, B0, C0, etc. Here there are sections of water cooled copper conductor. I'm told from reliable sources that this conductor was originally the coils of the Chicago Cyclotron magnet built and used by Enrico Fermi et al and later moved to Fermilab as an analysis magnet at the old Muon lab. When the coils were converted to superconducting ones in the 80's, the copper was obviously removed but saved for future uses. As a bit of a Fermilab history buff I like the link to Fermi and that his legacy continues not just in naming the lab after him but that some of the equipment he directly worked on was put to use here as well.